Western Experts: "Russia Struggles with Ground Forces Alone Without Deploying Air Power... Incomprehensible"

Ground Forces Suffer Increasing Damage... Only 75 Aircraft Deployed
"Suspicions of Pilot Proficiency and Ground Forces Coordination Deficiencies"

The remains of Russian tanks scattered on the roads of Bucha, the gateway city entering Kyiv from Belarus. Bucha (Ukraine) = AP·Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Western military experts, including U.S. intelligence agencies, have reported that Russia is not properly deploying its air force despite difficulties faced by its ground troops, and they are focusing on understanding the background, according to foreign media. It is still unclear whether this is due to an inability to operate effectively or preparations to mobilize all forces simultaneously on a designated date.

According to foreign media such as The New York Times (NYT) on the 1st (local time), U.S. intelligence agencies and major Western military experts have identified that Russia has used only about 75 aircraft in the war against Ukraine. This is less than half of the estimated total Ukrainian air force. Approximately 300 Russian fighter jets are reportedly on standby at airbases near Belarus, not deployed.

Although Russia's invasion of Ukraine has entered its sixth day, the capital Kyiv has not been occupied, and despite heavy ground troop casualties, Russia remains very cautious about deploying its Aerospace Forces (VKS). Rob Lee, a military expert at the U.S. think tank Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), said, "Initially, it was expected that Russia would mobilize its maximum military power at the start of the war," adding, "It is difficult to realistically explain why they are not doing so despite increasing costs and risks every day."

Retired Lieutenant General David Deptula, former U.S. Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff, also said, "I was surprised to see that Russia did not make more effort to establish air superiority from the beginning," and added, "Russia appears to be struggling to operate missions in multiple regions. They are fighting much worse battles than they anticipated."

The United Kingdom's think tank Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) also released a commentary titled 'The Mysterious Case of the Missing Russian Air Force' on the 28th of last month. RUSI pointed out in the commentary that "this may be due to a shortage of precision-guided munitions (PGM) available to the Russian Aerospace Forces," and noted, "when Russia supported government forces in the Syrian civil war, only the Sukhoi (SU)-34 used PGMs, while other fighters used unguided bombs and rockets."

RUSI also suggested that the Russian Aerospace Forces may lack confidence in the safe coordination with their own ground forces' surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems. It is not easy to deploy SAMs within Ukrainian territory, and if a large number of fighters are deployed to secure air superiority, there is a risk of friendly fire incidents due to poor identification, potentially resulting in the downing of allied aircraft.

RUSI explained, "Operating fighters and surface-to-air missile systems simultaneously in a complex environment without attacking friendly forces and only targeting enemies is difficult," adding, "Since 1990, friendly fire incidents caused by SAMs involving Russia and Western countries have been problematic in various engagements."

The limited flight hours of Russian pilots were also cited as a factor causing hesitation in deploying air power. According to official Russian announcements, the average annual flight hours for the entire Aerospace Forces are known to be around 100 to 120 hours. This is about half compared to the 180 to 240 hours of the British and U.S. air forces, suggesting that pilot proficiency is generally low.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.